Arians Calls Out Defenders

August 10th, 2019

Points fingers.

What Bucco Bruce Arians called a “perfect drive” wasn’t enough to make him forget awful defensive plays.

And Arians still had a bad taste in his mouth after the Bucs dropped their first preseason game to the Steelers Friday in Pittsburgh.

One player who irked Arians was veteran outside linebacker Noah Spence. Early in the game, Spence’s illegal use of hands penalty wiped out a beautiful pick by Vernon Hargreaves. The Steelers later kicked a field goal on that drive and would win by two.

Arians didn’t mince words.

“That changed the whole game,” Arians said. “That’s one of those plays that can’t happen.”

And Arians seemed to wonder out loud where rookie corner Sean Murphy-Bunting was. To paraphrase Lou Holtz, it seems SMB learned Pittsburgh ain’t no Kent State.

“Bunting didn’t show up tonight,” Arians said. “I would like to see him show up and get his hands on the ball.”

Moral to this story? Defenders, veterans and rookies alike better be prepared to get taken to task publicly if they don’t use their heads in a game.

Better get the minds right quickly. In three weeks, its 49ers Week.

61 Responses to “Arians Calls Out Defenders”

  1. Conte Piscatelli Says:

    Good, he is right, the attention to details make a difference in this game. Otherwise I thought Spence looked good. He pressured the QB a couple times and drew I believe 3 holding calls against the Steelers.

  2. East Orlando Preds Says:

    Man, if we kick or singles instead of going for a two-point conversion, we win the game. It’s only pre-season, but this loss is also on coaches. To the coaches credit, and despite horrible play, they came back at the end. Previous Buccaneers would have folded.

  3. Kobe Faker Says:

    “Accountability

    First step to a successful turnaround

    BA is the right coach

    But we need a GM to build the roster”

    Kobe Faker

  4. Dreambig Says:

    Nice! Glad to see Arians holding people accountable and giving them a foot in the a** for not showing up. Having said that Spence was one of the players on the Defense that played pretty good (although his good moments was against backups). More impactful than Spence’s penalty was the Defense mailing it in on 3rd and 20+ on at least two occasions. You will loose every time with that BS.

  5. casual observer Says:

    Call it like it is. Good show.

  6. Ghost of Darrell Henderson Says:

    When you draft players out of Division 3, who have never been in a big game, against elite competition, you get SMLB.

    The Bucs should fire any scout that even sniffs Division 3.

    They drafted SMLB simply on his 40 time. They also passed on Treyvon Mullen who was a legend playing for one of the top two football programs in the USA. TM played his finest game in the National Championship game vs Alabama, where he was voted MVP.

    I don’t think Mullen would be too intimidated by pre-season game in Pittsburgh against 2nd and 3rd stringers.

    Gump drafted pure speed but we didn’t see speed on defense last night. We saw unsure players that were out of position and didn’t play to the whistle. We saw practice squad players. We saw exactly what the tape on SMLB showed playing at Central Upper Northern Michigan Community College last year.

    Now all eyes should be on the Saturday night game LA Rams-Raiders, where we will see what might have been. Mullen for the Raiders and Darrell Henderson for the Rams.

    I wonder What’s going on with Josh Allen with the Jags?

    It looks like the Bucs may have drafted the wrong Devin at #5.

  7. AlteredEgo Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation. Says:

    Imagine if JPP and VV get back playing together again…….

  8. TampaBay AllDay Says:

    After one preseason game….”it look like the bucs may have drafted the wrong Devin”. Woooow what a goofball that picture is accurate

  9. Ocala Says:

    Bunting played division 1 football.

  10. TheBucsAnthem Says:

    What’s new?

    The secondary looked lost as usual

  11. Bucsfanman Says:

    Still, a much better-looking product than before. I’ll take mistakes being aggressive vs. being passive and still getting burnt!

  12. bubba billy bob bo baggins Says:

    Talk about accountability! Joebucsfan I am holding you accountable for not blogging about the best player on the field yesterday. Who was that wide receiver for the Bucs and where did he come from. WOW!!!

  13. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    We had some players get exposed and some getting exposure…..Hudson at TE & Schnell at WR were great……

    I love it that BA publicly calls out players……they deserve it…..and he’s right that play where the VH3 interception was called back changed the game.

    Later in the game we had another penalty on a 3rd down incomplete pass that gave them a new set of downs.

    Our offense with Griffin did overcome some holding penalties.

    But to me the most glaring problem was penalties on special teams…..we even had one on the kicking team for alignment. I think we had to start on the 10 yard line 3 times last night.

  14. LordCorn Says:

    We stayed mostly healthy which was good

    Outside of the one big pass play and the Spence screw up I thought the D looked good / aggressive / was getting pressure on the QB more often than I remember last year and the Steelers are known for good o line; and on top of that the improved coverage n playmaking by the safeties / corners

    First offensive drive was basically perfect. Rojo flashing. Gay hitting a long one

    Ill take it

    GO BUCS!

  15. Dreambig Says:

    Rewatching part of the game. Is it just me or is attempting kickoff returns getting to be not worth the risk. More often than not, the reffs call a holding or illegal block penalty and now your starting at or inside the 10. Most returns if they don’t have the penalty end up between the 15 and 25. Maybe one a game ends up better than that. If you have 6+ per game like the Bucs always do, and 3 or 4 end up in a penalty, they should cut their losses and just take the damn ball at the 20. Maybe not in preseason where they are supposed to be fixing this stuff but I thought the same thing last year during the season. Too lazy to do the actual research but I bet the math would prove me right. I could be wrong but I bet if you don’t attempt to run the ball out of the end zone your average starting field position after kickoffs would be better.

  16. Brandon Says:

    What a bunch of dumb effers running their mouths today. What’s new? Ghost of Dumbo doesn’t realize that our new CB played in Div 1, nor does he realize that talent comes from everywhere. He also doesn’t realize that just about every team in the NFL passed on his previous RB no less than three times in the draft. College stats don’t equal NFL success at any position.

    And then there’s the Kobe clown, who still runs his uneducated moron mouth after Jones looked like a very good RB last night. I would say I look forward to you making good on your promise to leave when he gets 50 yards but you won’t. You’d rather put quotation marks around your drivel like it is some kind of divine wisdom… then you have to sign it at the bottom because your name at the top, your nearly incoherent babbling isn’t enough to know to attribute the latest batch of stupidity to you.

    BTW, maybe the roster isn’t too bad. Maybe it’s just nearly impossible to achieve desired results when the team employed the worst coaching staff in the league. Put some quotes around that.

  17. LordCorn Says:

    Spence had a lot of pressure all game tho. Was a factor in 2 sacks and recall another 2 plays where his pressure made Dobbs run (should have had QB spy) plus the holding penalty he drew with pressure off the edge

    just saying lol maybe I’ll get a jersey for Kobe
    🙂

  18. Ghost of Darrell Henderson Says:

    “The Fighting Fukawi of Central Upper Northern Michigan Community College are in Division 1???

    Of course, I forgot, they’re in the Big 10 with Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State.

    Silly me!

  19. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    I agree that trying to return kicks is a losing battle…..at least for us…..if teams saw that last night….they will kick of to our 1 yard line and force us to return……we were awful.

  20. Sport Says:

    Hey Bucco Pessimisto,
    It appears you can drop the ‘stale bjscuit’ moniker. This guy is bringing a level of accountability not seen since Dungy was here.

    This is your first helping of crow. Hope you like because you’ve ordered ALOT more.

    In BA I Trust!

  21. IsrBuc Says:

    I want to see him do that to jw. I hope he’s not just picking on easy target

  22. BucEmUp Says:

    Even ghe leagues best defenses will give up pkays and points. Im not looking for this defense to be the best, I just dont want them yo ve an embarrassment. Noticed a coupke plays where the corner was 10 yards back and guess where they threw the ball, NOT TO THE CORNER BEING COVERED ON THE OTHER SIDE!!!

    Give Jamies and the run game an average defense with a clutch kicker and this team. will ve in the playoff hunt every year..

    ITS COACHING!!!

  23. Unimpressed Says:

    Bunting really disappointed me as well, glad Arians called him out. He looked lost against back-ups and third stringers. Ryan Smith outplayed him. That CAN’T happen.

  24. BigHog Says:

    We have at least three weeks to get this team “49’r READY” IT WON’T BE EASY BUT WE GONNA GET IT DONE!! GO BUCS GO FAMOUS GO SUHY GO SPAWN!!

  25. Bob in Valrico Says:

    Good to see Spence look better. One reason he struggled last year is he came in to light . At over 250 lbs, he looks ready to use both some speed rush and power moves. This should help him in run defense and dealing with offensive tackles that have 50 or more lbs. on him.
    I was a bit surprised that Ronde hadn’t done his homework on Spence. He still thought Spence was 235 lbs and was repeating stuff from last year’s staff.

  26. OBP Says:

    Again, VH3 should’ve had safety help over the top. Would’ve loved to see him stop that play by himself but Whitehead should’ve been there.

  27. Magadude Says:

    So in other words a very high draft of Licht (Spence) from days of old, and a new high pick (Bunting) didn’t cut it. I will say that at least Spence was in on a lot of plays. I’d be surprised if Bunting came out in his first action and did much. But yes, he got beaten too often.

  28. WyldKat Says:

    Who cares about those late calls to go for 2 instead of kicking?

    Arians wanted to see how pine-riders looking to keep a job executed the conversion plays against an opposing defense.

    Forest for the trees!

  29. NOSBOS Says:

    Maaann great late game attention grabbing force fumble Mazzi Wilkins. Keep grinding my G,steal a spot bro. Salute, next week finish that pick.

  30. BA FAN Says:

    Yes Bunting had a bad first game and Ryan Smith was one of the best CBs out there, thanks to great development from BA Coaches this year. But Ryan got lots of experience last year where he looked as bad as Bunting this year. Bunting is from a small school and will need more development to get comfortable at NFL Speed. Look how small school Cappa looked last year and compare to how well he played at RG last night with great development from BA Coaches. Cappa will be an outstanding player for us now. As for us trying to run back kicks that is how BA can watch how well our Special Team players are doing and correct defects before we get to this season when it counts. Trust BA. This is not a finished product yet, but a work in progress, and I was pleased with our first string players. BA will stop the penalties!

  31. Hodad Says:

    There was much better talent available in the draft even at corner when Licht used another high 2nd round pick on a developmental corner. The kid from Clemson was drafted just after him by Oakland, but hey why pick a kid who played for the national champs against Bama when Bunting was available from where? Just another poor choice in the draft by our dumb ass GM.

  32. Loyaltotheend Section 312 Says:

    Bunting looked like a player not use to a high level of competition

  33. Ghost of Darrell Henderson Says:

    “Bunting is from a small school and will need more development to get comfortable at NFL Speed”

    Practice squad.

    Another 2nd round waste.

  34. JimmyJack Says:

    Pentalties defientally we’re a big factor in losing that game. With the Spence one being the most costly.

    These are fixable and will be a good guage on how effective this coaching staff is.

    We must of had around 20 pentalties last night and that’s unacceptable. I want to see this team get better in that area by next week’s game & keep improving each week.

    A lot of work to be done but what I loved about our defense was they showed a lot of big play potential. We forced two fumbles had one pick & dropped another pick. One pick was negated and we only came up with one fumble recovery but the fact that we are creating these opportunities is a great sign.

    You can win with a defense that makes huge plays like that……especially if they can get them at critical times like our lone turnover last night!!!!

    Still a long way away but ready a lot to be evicted about.

    GO BUCS!!!!

  35. ed kerber Says:

    The goals of pre-Season and the goals of regular season are different. I am sure the kick-off returners we’re fold to return unless you are going to be killed.
    Spence did BETTER when there was BETTER talent around him.

    There were a few communication errors including VH3’s blown coverage and one of the 2 0t conversions. on the whole, things are looking better.

  36. Tony LA Says:

    Man,
    If all you guys are seriously this upset over a week 1 preseason game and already literally plummeting into the feces-filled bowels of sad-sack depression then I really and truly feel bad for you. Go outside. Get some sun. Do something else besides complain.

    Good luck with all of that.

  37. BA FAN Says:

    Oh and did you notice how hard BA had our players playing at the end of the first half and the last two minutes of the game and his time management? Night and day difference from how wash rag Koetter did last year at the same periods of the game! Our third string Center didn’t have any problems centering the ball but he got zero push so he has to get in the weight room and build up his upper and bottom strength. So we will have to keep E. Smith as our backup Center this year and work on LeRibeus on the Practice Squad. Trewin was too weak at third string Guard too and our Third String OTs were awful.

  38. Isaac haggins Says:

    Let’s be real Ronde has a tool and a lil clown in him , great player but just as soon not read or listen to him. Kinda Arrogant and at times very inaccurate !!!

  39. Buccernutter Says:

    How do some of you feel to contribute to the dumbest fan base in sports?

    Ghost realisto tmax. You guys are a joke. 😀

  40. JimmyJack Says:

    So now we are writing off rookies after a week of training and a half of one practice game?

    We need a new word cause kneejerk don’t even describe these reactions.

    Meanwhile RoJo and Cappa showed you right to your face last night that it’s totally peabrained to write players off so quickly.

    But hey at least you are not “that guy” who would call Bunting a bust last week before you ever even saw him play. That honor belong to the one and only Ghost.

    Like that comedian said……You carn’t fix stupid…….Now I know which type of stupid he was talking about.

  41. JimmyJack Says:

    BA fan great point about the time management at half and at end. Dirk was utterly helpless in that department.

  42. Todd Says:

    Brandon—

    You GO boy!

    Loved your post.

  43. BA FAN Says:

    We just picked up a OT from the Redskins so hopefully he can pickup our playbook fast and replace Boozer as our backup to D. Smith. We need to pickup another Tackle and heave ho Benenoch too. Dotson played well last night and some more years left too if he can stay healthy. BA needs to call out Benenoch and then cut him to send a message to the rest he isn’t kidding about demanding attention to detail and playing hard to the whistle every play.
    When we play a good running QB our DC needs to have a designated spy because playing man for man our backfield is concentrating on their man and it is too easy for a running QB to get big chunks otherwise.

  44. Todd Says:

    Lord (not Cornelius)—

    Would you kindly do your healing thing and reach down and touch the sprained ACL of one Tevita Tuli’aki’ono Tuipulotu Mosese Va’hae Fehoko Faletau Vea?

    May his knee be with him.

    Amen.

  45. Ghost of Darrell Henderson Says:

    “But hey at least you are not “that guy” who would call Bunting a bust last week before you ever even saw him play.”

    You’re right, I called SMLB a bust on the 2nd day of the draft when I saw his “highlight” reel playing for the 1-11 Fighting Fukawi of Central Upper Northern Michigan Community College. He was out of position and lost.

    Those were his highlights. Just imagine the lowlights.

    I called for Gump’s job when he passed on the best CB in draft who was a legend playing for the best team in the best conference in the world. Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden jumped on that mistake immediately.

    There was a place for players like SMLB in the draft, it’s called the 5th round.

    I called for Gump’s job when he passed on the best RB in NCAA history (8.2 YPC) for two practice squad players. There was a place for them in the draft as well, the 6th and 7th round.

    There would be a place for Rolo on this team if they had the common sense to draft Henderson at the 70th pick. Rojo would be 3rd string.

    I get a kick out of the ad hominen attacks you guys resort to when you don’t have a cogent argument.

    Even BA said SMLB sucked

  46. Race to 10 Says:

    Bunting will recover I mean this is the nfl and very few offenses get shut down these days. Case in point RG4 put up 330 yards behind a bad oline. Have we not learned anything from rojo talk? Everyone develops at a different pace, we’ll see how he improves in a week after watching the tape and making corrections. But I do remember being scolded on this site for saying there was too much hype for the secondary before playing under the lights

  47. Buc1987 Says:

    Brandon……WOW did you put down the flame thrower yet?

    Yikes.

    Go Bucs!

  48. thefinalf33r Says:

    I thought it was a silent night for VH3, but he did have a huge pick called back.

    Hope Ronde misspoke about Beckwith, far as we know he has not retired.

  49. YoungBuc09 Says:

    Does this clown Ghost whatever realize that our best O lineman came from division 2, and our up and coming right guard came from division 3?

  50. Kobe Faker Says:

    “I just filed a restraining order on Brandon Gump

    I will now be posting my quotation marks and name wearing a baseball catchers mask”

    Kobe LOL Faker

  51. Ghost of Darrell Henderson Says:

    Congratulations Youngbuc on your typing skills and clever attack on me personally.

    I really can’t call it an ad hominem attack when I have a clown’s picture as my avatar.

    You probably don’t understand, since you’re only 10 years old, that clown avatar is my homage to the late, great Little General, Greg Schiano, who actually destroyed (coached) this team in 2012 and 2013 when you were still in diapers.

    It is OK for a GM to draft a Division 3 player in the later rounds. Then you put them on the practice squad, strengthen them in a NFL weight room and coach them up while they get used to the speed and intensity of professional football.

    Some never make it, then you can cut them and it’s no great loss to the team. Some times they do make it and then you can regale all the scouts, assistants, hangers on and gofers with drunken stories of how smart you are at the annual Xmas party.

    The best GM’s will try to draft “impact” players in the first 3 rounds that will make the “Pro Bowl” and excel in the “playoffs”.

    The “playoffs” is a colloquial term for the year end tournament that ends with a “Super Bowl.”

    Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, the Buccaneers visited that Fantasy World and actually won. The players were rewarded with fancy diamond rings and some were given “Golden Jackets.”

    Old clowns like me long for the glory days and wish the Bucs could win again before we die of old age.

  52. Kobe Faker Says:

    “Hey Ghost

    The problem with the Buc fanbase is that they accept losing

    We know what the problems are and what other teams and franchises in the NFL do to solve them…we would like the Bucs to do the same

    we bring humor, sarcasm, and truth and they dont like it

    Im laughing from reading the screens our running backs caught yesterday. we have the worst unnatural pass catching rbs in the NFL. it takes them 3 seconds to gather in and make a move. They cant run for xtra yards and immediately brought down…

    Henderson would have taken at least 1 of the screens for a TD”

    Kobe Fake

  53. ATL Bucs Fan Says:

    Kobe and ghost are definitely the same person lmao

  54. Ghost of Darrell Henderson Says:

    The thing about DH is that when he see’s green, he’s gone.

    I never saw him get caught from behind in college.

    I’m going to miss you, Kobe.

    Rojo will stumble and bumble his way to 50 yards some day.

  55. geno711 Says:

    @Ghost

    What you do not see is that it is likely that both ROJO and SMB will have a better year than Darrell Henderson.

    Do you understand that Henderson played in the AAC. Also not a power 5 conference.

    Do you understand that the Rams coaching staff is aghast that Henderson only holds the ball in his left arm and has no clue how to transition the ball to his right arm. They also noted that right now he is a one speed runner.

    Lastly he has not come close to passing Malcolm Brown who was beat out by a guy off the street last year.

  56. Mike Johnson Says:

    LMAO here. Arians gonna be blastin a lot during regular season. No Vea, No JPP and no McCoy. I guess..Houdini gonna do the pass rushing huh?

  57. Defense Rules Says:

    Wow, what’s wrong with some of you folks. First NFL PRESEASON game for SMB, White & several others and you all have the daggers out. They call it PRE-season for a reason; gives the players a chance to get ready for the season. It wasn’t just SMB who had a meh FIRST PRE-season game, so did several others. Good learning opportunity.

    And Lord C, I must’ve watched a different game because I thought our pass rush was very inconsistent on the night, even when the 1st-stringers were in there. Most of the time it was reminiscent of last year’s pass rush. Steeler QBs on most pass plays had way too much time to find an open man. Even worse, wasn’t very impressed with our contain either. Too may guys slipped outside for some big gains.

    But again, it was the FIRST PRESEASON GAME. And we were playing without several key defensive players (LVD, Vea, JPP) who would’ve made a big difference more than likely. Not an excuse; just reality … 2nd stringers don’t normally outplay the 1st string guys. And they certainly didn’t last night.

  58. Kobe Faker Says:

    “Def

    Clearly, BA has a plan and he knows what he is doing

    its very frustrating to me that it is 3 years too late

    We should have had BA instead of Klueless. BA needed to reign in Gumps terrible roster building

    our last 2 years were wasted in gathering talent and also vision toward building a winning roster. we are missing 2-3 major role foundational players

    losing 2 years of gathering major talent is a huge handicap

    timing is everything and unfortunately, we have the right coach but 3 years too late”

    Kobe Faker

  59. Bob in Valrico Says:

    One thing I noticed was there was good effort to stop the run when the current first teamers were in. Agree with DR that the addition of Vea, LVD and possibly JPP would only make them better. Also thought Spence can develop into a more
    well rounded player with the extra weight and muscle he put on. He was actually pushing his man back toward the QB. Indirectly Buckner may have something to do with that, IMO. I believe he wanted every lineman to push their man back to the QB. I am no D line coach but a mix of speed rush and power rush keeps the O lineman guessing.

  60. Bucsfanman Says:

    LMAO! A rookie struggled! Oh no, what are we to do?!
    Some of you sound like you WANT vindication of your prognostications for the sake of being right, even to the detriment of the team.
    How about we get behind OUR team and players and hope for their improvement?
    Bueller? Frye?
    Preseason! Gain some perspective.

  61. delson Says:

    Went for it on 4th down in the redzone. That’s 3 plus the 3 2 point conversions, we weren’t trying to win that game. If we are planning risking it for the biscuit like that then f its gonna be a long season